Ben's Unwanted Storytime
by Solblade44
Summary: While hanging out one day, Eve asks Ben for some backstory. Entry for Elagune's Bibliography fanfiction contest.


Elagune, the creator of the manga _Bibliography_ on a site called Gaijin Manga, decided to host a contest. If you are unfamiliar with this series, I'd recommend you check it out, along with the other series on the same site.

**I do not own Bibliography, I just wanted to enter the creator's fanfic contest.**

It was a warm, sunny day in Tiltstone and all of the city's inhabitants were enjoying the nice weather. Kids ran through the park playing games, people strolling down the streets,couples enjoyed picnics; it was the definition of a perfect day.

One such couple was sitting at a bench under the statue of a famous defense attorney. There was a silver-haired boy with glasses taking a sip from a can of cola. Next to him was a pretty, blonde-haired girl eating a giant looking hotdog. The girl finished devouring her food and gazed up at the sky. After thinking it over, she looked at her friend.

"Hey, Ben."

The boy, Ben, was snapped out of his thoughts and looked at the girl.

"What's the matter Eve? Need another hotwolf?" Ben asked.

"No, nothing like that," the girl, Eve, said. "I was just curious about how you met your friends. You seem so drawn in by books that I'm surprised you aren't anti-social."

"I do other things than read, ya know," Ben said, letting out a sigh. "I'm with you now and book free, aren't I?"

"Yes, but that doesn't answer my question."

Ben sighed again, knowing that he wasn't getting out of this one so easily. Meh, what would be the harm of a little back-story?

"Bibliography," Ben said out loud. In a puff of smoke, a book appeared in the boy's lap. There was a design of a black and white cross and "Bibliography" was written near the top of the cover.

"Bibliography? Why do you need that for?" asked Eve.

"I was writing stuff in it and found out something pretty cool about it," explained Ben as he opened up the book. Instead of turning to the Lexicon pages that Eve was expecting it to turn to, it turned to a page that said "Memories" in the corner.

"I figured since it's called a bibliography, why not write about myself in it?" said Ben. "That would technically be an auto-bibliography, but I figured there'd be no harm to it."

Ben started to describe some scenery. As he did so, pictures started to appear and move on the two pages.

* * *

><p>Tiltstone Elementary was like any other school you'd find: kids played in the playground, talked about the latest episode of their favorite TV shows, trying to pass cooties onto each other, and plenty of other junk. Everything was perfectly normal and nothing was out of place.<p>

"Ben, why don't you go play outside with everyone else?" a teacher asked her student.

Even as a young boy, Benjamin Hewitt was a bibliophile that surrounded himself with large stacks of books, even in fifth grade. On this recess, he was reading a book on geology; more specifically, metamorphic rocks and all of their respective traits. He was so drawn in by how these rocks were made and how to identify them that his teacher had to ask the question again.

"Huh? Oh, that's alright Mrs. B. but I think recess is almost over."

Mrs. B. looked at the clock in the corner to see that there was only five minutes left before the students came back inside. How he knew that without looking up from his book was astounding but she left Ben to his reading. The final minutes of recess passed by like a blur and the children came pouring back into the school. One of them was a girl with short, black hair and rectangular glasses.

"_Oh, is that Satomi? You two looked really cute as kids!"_ Eve said excitedly.

"_Can I just get back to the story? You're ruining the flashback," _said Ben in an annoyed tone.

"Geez Ben, do you ever take a break?" Satomi asked. "I swear you were in that same position when I left."

"I went to the bathroom at one point," said Ben as he slid a bookmark in the book.

"Yeah, but that's cuz you drink so much pop during lunch," argued Satomi. "If it wasn't for your mid-recess pee breaks, you probably wouldn't have moved!"

"True, true," laughed Ben.

The rest of the school day passed without any trouble and they were released from class at 3 o'clock. Ben and Satomi were heading home when they head something that made them both cringe.

"Sup guys!" said a boy behind them. The two of them turned around to see a boy smirking at them. He was a few inches taller, had dark brown hair, tanned skin and wore an oversized jersey. This newcomer was Raoul, a boy who just happened to be in the class next to theirs.

* * *

><p>"Wait, wait, wait," said Eve.<p>

"What's wrong now?" asked Ben, a little more irritated that the story was interrupted again.

"I wanted to know how you all met, but you're making it sound like you two already knew Raoul beforehand."

"Very observant," said Ben. "Any normal person hearing this just would have assumed we were acquainted with Raoul but we had only heard about him from other kids at the time. Of course, if you'd just kept listen, this detail would've been explained."

"Heh, heh. Oops?"

* * *

><p>"Uh, hi," said Ben. "You're Raoul from Ms. Myers' class, right?"<p>

"Yup," Raoul said with a grin on his face. "Guess you've heard of me then?"

In school, there's always that one person you hear about from everyone else in the halls. They could be the cool kid that's supposedly done everything that the other kids could only dream of, a delinquent set off the fire alarm twenty times in a year, or as in Ben's case, reading at almost every possible moment. Raoul was known for being extremely athletic to the point that fights would break out whenever it came to choosing sides for teams in a game. However, he was better known as the kid who was denser than a rock.

"Sort of," said Ben. He had never actually encountered Raoul previously so he wasn't sure of how to act around him. The newcomer broke the silence before it got too awkward.

"So, um... what's up?" Raoul asked.

"Um, not much," Satomi replied.

"Do you guys live around here?"

They replied with uneasy "Yeahs".

"Yeah, I saw you guys walk down this way so I decided 'I'm gonna go talk to them,'" Raoul said.

"Okay. Mission accomplished," said Satomi, resuming her walk towards her house.

"Hey, wait!"

Satomi stopped and Ben, who was about to follow her, turned back around. Raoul was standing there with his hand extended towards them. When he realized he had done that, he let it fall to his side.

"Can I walk home with you guys?"

Ben and Satomi looked at each and shrugged.

"Sure. Why not?" said Satomi.

With that said, the three of them walked together the rest of the way home.

* * *

><p>"And that's pretty much it," said Ben, shutting his whitebox weapon. "Wasn't too exciting."<p>

"That's it?" asked Eve. "Wow, how... normal."

"What'd you expect? We were just normal kids doing normal kid things back then," said Ben. "It's not like we forged our friendship through a fight or something."

"You think that's all there is to the story?" asked a voice as a shadow was cast over the two.

Ben looked up to see his two people standing over them. One was a girl with long black hair and square glasses and the other was a boy that stood a head higher than the girl, had tan skin and horns sticking out of his head. This duo was none other than Satomi and Raoul, Ben's two best friends.

"Hanging out with your girlfriend without telling us again?" asked Satomi with a mischievous glint similar to a knife in her eyes.

"And telling her a sucky, cut down version of how we actually became friends?" asked Raoul. "Come on, I thought you weren't one for skipping out on details."

"She's not my girlfriend," sighed Ben. "Eve asked about _how_ we met. I gave her just that. Nothing more, nothing less."

"There's more to the story?" Eve asked excitedly, hopping in her seat. "Ben, I wanna hear this!"

"Do I _have_ to?" Ben groaned. He was met with a simultaneous "Yes" from all three of his friends.

"Why can't you guys just do it since you're so offended?"

"Cuz we're mean," said Raoul, giving Ben a gigantic grin.

"Now do it or I'll cut you," said Satomi in a very serious tone.

"Fine," he grumbled as he opened up the Bibliography to the Memories page again.

* * *

><p>It had been a couple of weeks since Ben and Satomi befriended Raoul. At first, things started out simple: they would play in the playground – even Ben decided to give the books a rest – usually tag or basketball. Raoul showed off his athleticism during these times, proving the rumors surrounding his seemingly godly skills.<p>

When they weren't playing games outside, they were going over homework inside. Currently, they were sitting at the kitchen table at Ben's house.

"Geez, how do you remember all of this?" Raoul asked when Ben finished helping him through a math problem. "You're like a walking dictionary!"

"Don't you mean encyclopedia?" said Ben. "To answer your question, it's simple if you just pay attention to what your teacher says in class. If you don't get it then, ask questions."

"I do... but the teach doesn't seem to see it that way," said Raoul as he leaned back in his chair. "I'm just too thick headed to get it."

"If you keep thinking that way, you won't learn anything," Ben said encouragingly. "You just gotta keep going, like how you are in sports. If you give up, the other team is gonna win."

Raoul raised an eyebrow curiously at Ben before his lips curled into a grin.

"Thanks Ben."

"Don't mention it," said Ben, returning the smile. He looked up at the clock to see that it was 6 o'clock. "Oh man, we've been working an hour already."

Raoul turned around to look at the clock, then looked back at Ben. He may not have been a very sociable person, but the book lover could see a hint of concern on his friend's face.

"Dude, are you alright?" he asked.

"Uh, it's nothing. I just... gotta be home soon."

Ben could see through Raoul's obvious lie. It was Friday night, so kids were usually just getting together or were already gathered at this time. If there was one thing that he learned about him in the short time they were friends, it's that Raoul wasn't a very good liar. He was too honest; blunt, yes, but honest all the same. Before Ben could pry, Raoul started to grab his stuff and shove it into his backpack.

"I'll see ya at school," he said as he ran out the door.

"I _should_ follow him..." muttered Ben. "But I could be worried over nothing."

He decided to just let it slide. If Raoul didn't want to tell him, it was probably embarrassing. It wasn't until the next day that he knew something was up.

Ben, Raoul and Satomi were going to meet up by the arcade next to Pizza Batt so they could play a new fighting game that came out recently. However, when Ben arrived at the arcade, he only saw Satomi standing out front.

"Hey, Satomi!" Ben said as he waved her over. "Where's Raoul?"

"He told me that he couldn't make it," she said. "Something about last minute plans with the family."

"I guess it can't be helped. We'll just have to make another trip here tomorrow."

The two of them made their way into the arcade, blowing through several quarters beating themselves up in the game before moving onto pizza. The fact that their new friend wasn't their didn't bother them in the slightest. If it was a family matter, the two of them certainly couldn't do anything about it.

* * *

><p>"Come on, get to the exciting parts!" said Raoul as he interrupted the story once again. "We don't wanna hear the small, boring details."<p>

"Look, do you want story time to continue or not?" asked Ben irritably. He was sick of stopping the story what seemed like every other paragraph because it made the whole experience feel choppy.

"How about I tell the rest of the story then?" suggested Raoul. He grabbed Bibliography out of Ben's hands and tried flipping the pages. However, the book's pages wouldn't budge from the current memory page.

"Hey, how come it's not working?"

Right as he asked that, the whitebox weapon slammed shut with one of Raoul's fingers inside.

"OW! Get it off!" he shouted as he flailed his arms around.

"Quit moving around then," said Satomi, shaking her head at the idiocy occurring before her.

Raoul stopped moving long enough for Ben to free his friend from Bibliography's surprising grip. Once free, the bigger teen shook his hand.

"Now, can I _please_ finish the story?" Ben asked. When he received no objections, he resumed the memory, this time fast forwarding to the relevant parts.

* * *

><p>When Ben and Satomi returned to school on Monday, there was a crowd of people near the front entrance.<p>

"Tell us how you got the black eye!" said one boy.

"Did you get in a fight?"

"Does it hurt?"

After shoving their way through the pack of kids, they saw Raoul sporting a black eye.

"Geez, it wasn't a big deal guys," he said sheepishly. "Honestly, I'd rather not talk about it."

When he spotted his friends, Raoul grabbed them each by the arm and started to move out of the crowd.

"Sorry, gotta go everyone! I'll tell you at lunch!" he said quickly. Some of the kids "Aw'd" or grumbled, leaving the trio alone as they dispersed.

"Man, I knew I should've wore glasses to school," said Raoul. "Sorry I bailed on Saturday. I had... stuff to do."

"Yeah, what was all of that about?" asked Satomi. "All you told me was that you had some family thing to do."

Raoul looked down at his feet with an embarrassed look on his face.

"It was... something dumb."

"That's it? It was something dumb?" asked Ben. "Gee Raoul, that's really helpful."

"Just spit it out already," said Satomi, folding her arms over her chest.

"Fine! Some family members were in town and they wanted to play baseball," explained Raoul. "During the game, I got hit in the face with the ball."

Ben and Satomi looked at each other before bursting out into laughter.

"The great sportsman Raoul got in the face with a baseball?" laughed Satomi. "That's gold!"

"Sh-Shut up! It's not funny!"

After laughing it out, Raoul left for his class. Ben was still chuckling a little when Satomi gave him a serious look.

"Dude, he was lying big time," she said.

"Are you sure?" asked Ben. "It didn't look like he was lying."

"He was all shifty eyed when he said the baseball hit him. Plus, when does Raoul not catch a baseball? He could probably catch fastballs in his sleep."

"Baseball isn't his best sport," Ben argued. "Granted, he's still pretty good at it, but we all make mistakes."

"It's still kinda fishy," said Satomi.

The fishiness continued when Raoul avoided them during lunch and recess. Whenever the two approached him, he threw himself into a crowd or initiated a game. Even as school ended, he bolted out of the building as if it were on fire.

"There's definitely something fishy going on," said Satomi.

"It _is _odd," said Ben. "Let's follow him."

The duo tailed Raoul, who unwittingly led them halfway across the city. The boy finally stopped outside the back of an old building. They hid behind a dumpster, just barely out of sight.

As Raoul walked to a set of double doors, they could see that there were several older kids sitting around. They looked like typical middle schoolers: a few of them had their growth spurts while others still looked pretty childish. One of them near the middle had a cigarette in his mouth but it was unlit; he was probably trying to look cool.

"Hey look guys, the champ is back," said the tallest of the group, leering at the boy. "How'd you like our parting gift?"

The older kids laughed at Raoul, who was looking down at his feet with shame.

"So what's the deal kid? You gonna join us or are we gonna have to teach you another lesson?" asked a chubby kid to the side. He pounded a fist into an empty hand for emphasis.

"This looks really bad," whispered Satomi. "What's Raoul doing hanging with these creeps?"

Ben shushed her when Raoul spoke up.

"If I do, will you leave them alone?"

The group of boys gathered around the cigarette kid and whispered a few things to each other.

"Sure. Under one condition," said cigarette kid. The teen closest to Raoul kicked him square in the chest. He staggered for a moment and fell on his back.

"The boys and I are a little worked up today. I hope you don't mind."

Raoul took another punch to his face, which knocked him on his back again. As he tried to jump to his feet, he was attacked by the rest of the gang. Raoul took several more hits but not before returning the favor: he managed to score a crotch shot on their leader. The group was stunned for a moment but glared daggers at Raoul. They tackled the boy and pinned him to the ground while the cigarette kid got on his feet.

"You... You're a dead man," he said, some pain still in his voice. He was about to stomp on Raoul when a rock hit him on the forehead.

All attention turned to Ben, who was slowly walking toward the bullies. In his head, Ben had thought up a witty one-liner but once the spotlight was on him, he suddenly lost it.

"Hey," he mumbled, which was all he could manage as he got closer. "Leave him alone."

"It's that book worm kid," one of the older kids whispered. "My bro told me about him. Spends all his time reading."

"Get outta here kid," said the tall boy. "If you know what's good for you."

Ben stood his ground, closed his eyes and took a deep breath. Once his mind was clear, he took a fighting stance. This was the first time he'd be using against someone else other than Uncle Fong. He could hear the middle schoolers laughing at him.

"Who does this punk think he is, Jackie Chan?"

One of them charged at Ben and readied a punch when the bookworm's eye snapped open. As the fist drew closer, Ben sidestepped and knocked the older boy out of the way. He smirked as several jaws dropped, from the bullies and his friends. The older boys came to their senses and charged at Ben, who dodged and redirected their attacks back at each other. It took a lot of effort from Ben as they were all stronger than he was. Luckily, they weren't very experienced fighters themselves and Ben was able to predict their moves, knocking out most of them with a few, well-placed strikes.

After Ben struck the tall kid in the chest, he was grabbed from behind by the cigarette kid. He struggled to get out of the hold but Ben couldn't budge. He looked on in horror as the tall boy was about to punch him in the face when Raoul blindsided him and tackled him to the ground. Ben heard a loud "THUNK!" sound and could feel the boy holding him loosening his grip and falling over. He turned around to see Satomi holding a wooden plank.

"And take some of this and one of these!" exclaimed Raoul as he punched out the lights out of the tall boy. "Yeah! We kick butt!"

"Raoul."

He turned around slowly to see Ben and Satomi staring at him.

"Why didn't you tell us the truth?" asked Ben.

Raoul smirked stupidly, kicking at the ground with one foot.

"I didn't wanna get you guys involved," he said after a few moments. "They were gonna hurt you if I didn't join up with them."

Ben and Satomi were taken back by what he said.

"Stupid. You should have just told us," said Satomi, smiling at Raoul. "From the sounds of it, they didn't even recognize Ben, so there's no way they meant what they said."

"We're just glad you're not hurt," said Ben, patting his friend on the back. The trio walked away from the building, leaving behind the gang to moan over their injuries.

* * *

><p>Ben shut the Bibliography one last time and it transformed back into sigil form.<p>

"There, I told you the story. Happy now?"

Raoul raised his hand. Ben sighed and got up from where he was sitting.

"Forget it. I'm getting another drink," he mumbled, walking to the nearest vending machine.

"Ah come on! You could have at least put some more action scenes into it," shouted Raoul. "You forgot the part where Satomi did a tombstone piledriver on one of the dudes!"

"Next time you tell the flashback!" Ben shouted back.

- End -


End file.
